LookingforLuna: Update!

There's this thing that, if you're really lucky, happens every few months. It is one of the highlights of the whole adoption experience. Actually, for a family that is starving for information about their child, it's like a whole steak crammed onto their computer screen. It's called an "Update!"

Every few months, you can send five questions about your child along with a request for photos (and a video, please!) to China. Then, you cross your fingers that the orphanage feels like complying with your request. Hopefully, about two weeks later, your email will light up. "YOU HAVE AN UPDATE!" and then you dance around the kitchen and become completely OCD as you comb through the pictures, and the much-hoped-for video, looking for every small detail that might tell you something new about your child or might validate what the referral has already said.

On April 29, 2015, we received an update - five photos taken by Luna's kindergarten teacher and
a one minute video of her talking to the teacher while she plays with tiles.

Her hair has grown from the pictures and the video that we have from the initial referral, taken in December 2014, and there are some things that we've been able to deduce.

First, there's the obvious fact that she defines "crooked bowl-cut" (really, what else is an orphanage supposed to do?) and then the fact that she doesn't smile - hair bows and smiles, that's my first goal for this child.

Most importantly, is the fact that she's actually learning in a real kindergarten ( the other little kids are obviously well-cared for local kids, the little girl standing beside her has on jewelry and a coordinated outfit. This fits with what her file says.) She's being stimulated, she's learning, she's interacting -well, she's been given the opportunity to learn how to learn, respond to stimuli, and how to be "social." Very good things to see.

There is the fact that, in the top two photos, she's sitting so far from the board while she works. Based on what I've seen of other kids with albinism, some of whom sit right ON TOP of whatever they are working on, we can deduce that her vision is, maybe, not the worst that it could be.

In the bottom photo, she's piecing together like-colored tiles which points toward good dexterity and good useable vision (on the video she pops those green things together fast.) She's also sitting hunched over which I believe is because she's facing a window (on the video you can see the reflection of the light on the faces of the other kids) and the sunlight is probably very uncomfortable for her, which furthers our theory that she is photosensitive. That, and the answer to one of our questions which is, " Yes, the light does hurt her when she goes outside and she prefers to play inside." The fact that her eyes are open and that she can function even in the light is a good indication that she does not become blind in the presence of bright light, which can be true for some of these kids.

It's all a bunch of guess work and there is no way to be sure until we get her home but it all looks good. (And, from this, you can get an idea of how OCD adoptive parents become in the face of a new update.)

I LOVED having my new photos but I was a bit disappointed in the fact that none of them showed her face. A couple of days later, a video popped up in my email. It's a full minute long and we can see her little face and hear her voice as she talks to her teacher. She looks down during the whole conversation and never makes eye contact with the teacher but that is probably as much due to the sunlight in her face as anything else. Right at the very end of the video she looks up into the bin of tiles and we can see her startlingly blue eyes. My computer freezes on this image every time that I watch it. <sigh>

“Lu-na! That’s my sister!” <pause> Where does she live in China?”

“She lives in an orphanage, which is like a big building where lots of kids live.”
“She doesn’t have a mommy yet, but she will!” <great big smile, throws head back, stands on one foot and puts her little finger on my shoulder with a flourish> "It will be you! Annnnd, K(Man) -Daddy!” – Q-Boo

Now, here's to coming with up with my NEXT set of five questions.